


Untitled Season 4 AU Preview

by orphan_account



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Allison/Liam is Friendship Only, Fae & Fairies, Ghosts, Multi, Non-Werewolf Liam, Preview, Season 4 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 22:07:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7592110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam looks up. There’s an unfamiliar girl standing over him, messenger bag slung over one shoulder. She’s got one hand fisted in the hem of her purple dress, her leggings and black leather boots looking out of place for early summer. Her face looks vaguely familiar, like Liam’s seen a photo of her somewhere. “I’m sorry,” Liam says breathlessly. He’s kind of in lots of pain. “What did you say?”</p>
<p>The shocked expression that crosses her angled face is not the reaction Liam was expecting. Nor is the barely audible, “You can see me?” she asks him reverently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Untitled Season 4 AU Preview

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a preview of a massive AU I'm working on that will affect Season 4 and then the following seasons if I can be bothered writing them. It's currently untitled, and I'm just putting this out to see how people feel about it before I start working on the last couple of chapters. When I actually post it, I'll probably leave this up, but who knows.

Liam’s first day back at school after The Incident sucks ass. Especially because he’s been in the hospital for a week. Plus, he’s still learning how to get along with his shiny new crutches – because he’s just short enough that the perfect height for them is exactly in-between two of the pins, of course – and he can’t time his trips around the school properly, so he’s been consistently late everywhere he goes all day. His friends are acting strangely and treating him like he’s broken as well. Mason mothers him like he’s had a limb chopped off instead of just snapping a bone, and Garrett and Violet have been distant and distracted all day, noses always buried in their phones and conversations all held in hushed whispers. Liam gets a brief moment of peace when Mason stays back after history to discuss some extra credit project he wants to do with Mr Yukimura, and Liam hops his way down to his locker in relative silence as people rush to class around him.

The warning bell rings for the next period, and Liam curses, rummaging around in his black hole of a locker for his maths notes. He already knows he’s going to be late – the maths room is on the other side of the school – but he doesn’t want to make it worse than it’s already going to be. “Shit, shit,” he mutters, fingers scrabbling as the notebook slips through his fingers and falls to the ground, loose papers scattering everywhere. Luckily, the throng of people that had been milling around has dispersed, and Liam gently levers himself to his knees to start gathering papers up, broken leg protesting painfully at the movement.

He's reaching out to grab his calculus notes when his sleeve pulls back and he sees his other injury from his trip to the hospital – the unexplained bite mark that he doesn’t remember getting. Liam frowns at it, tugging his sleeve back down. He suddenly realises that someone is talking to him.

“-kay? Hey, are you okay?”

Liam looks up. There’s an unfamiliar girl standing over him, messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She’s got one hand fisted in the hem of her purple dress, her leggings and black leather boots looking out of place for early summer. Her face looks vaguely familiar, like Liam’s seen a photo of her somewhere. “I’m sorry,” Liam says breathlessly. He’s kind of in lots of pain. “What did you say?”

The shocked expression that crosses her angled face is not the reaction Liam was expecting. Nor is the barely audible, “You can see me?” she asks him reverently.

“Well of course I can see you,” Liam barks, now slightly irritated. “I’m crippled, not blind!” He feels bad for snapping at her almost as soon as he’s done it. Damn IED. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. What were you saying?”

The girl shakes her head, still looking a little shell-shocked. “I was asking if you’re okay? Do you want some help?” Her face is kind and earnest, and Liam nods without thinking about it. He’s never seen this girl before – maybe she’s a new student? “Here, I’ll grab the ones that slid down the corridor, okay?”

“Thanks,” Liam whispers. He’s been at Beacon Hills now for a month, and he’s only managed to make two friends – Mason doesn’t count because they’ve been friends since elementary school – so he’s not used to people, particularly upperclassmen because this girl looks like she’s at least in Junior year, talking to him.

A few minutes go by as Liam sets about putting all his notes back in order, and then the girl is holding the rest of them out for him. “Here you go,” she says cheerfully. “Do you need help up?”

Liam gives his crutches an appraising look where they’re leaning against the lockers. “Um, I don’t think so. But, could you hold these for a sec?” He holds his notes up hopefully. Once the girl takes them, Liam carefully climbs up onto one foot and wedges his crutches under his arms, pulling a face when they dig into his ribs. “I hate these things,” he grumps. “Could you just stuff that in my bag, please?” He turns, and feels his bag jiggling as she pulls the zip and carefully tucks his notebook in behind his lunch and drink bottle. “Seriously, thank you so much,” Liam says earnestly. “I’d have been stuck crawling around for ages if it weren’t for you-” he realises he doesn’t know her name, so he turns to ask her. “Woah, what the hell?”

The girl is gone.

-

At lunch time, Liam hops over to where he and Mason usually sit with Violet and Garrett, only to find their table completely empty. He sits down and makes himself comfortable, and then texts a ‘where you at?’ to Mason, to which he receives an ‘@ the nurse’s office – think I’m dying’ reply. Liam groans. That means he’s going to be alone in Econ, and he’ll only have Violet as a buffer when he goes to watch Garrett at lacrosse practice. And he’s probably going to be alone for the rest of lunch, because he has no idea where the Grossest Couple In Freshman Year have gone.

“H-hey.”

Liam nearly jumps at the soft voice, dropping his sandwich on the table with a wet plop. He looks up, and the girl from the corridor is standing behind Violet’s usual chair. He gives her a small smile. “Hey yourself, you disappeared on me earlier.”

She almost looks relieved that he’s seen her. “Yeah, sorry about that. Do you mind if I sit with you?”

“Go ahead,” Liam tells her, waving his hand at the chair. “All my other friends have ditched me, so I could use some company. Hey, what’s your name? I totally forgot to ask you earlier.”

The girl smiles blindingly at him. “Thanks.” She pulls the chair out and sits down, tucking her hair behind her ear self-consciously. “I’m Ally. You’re Liam, right?”

“Yeah,” Liam nods. “How’d you know that?”

Ally giggles. “Well, apart from the fact that your bag has your name written on the back of it, there’s only one kid in the whole school who almost beat the lacrosse team captain during tryouts.”

“Fat lot of good that did me,” Liam complains, pointing his sandwich at his crutches. “Seriously, that guy feels like he’s made out of cement or steel or something else non-human.”

The laugh Ally gives sounds slightly forced, and her eyes get a little wide, but she doesn’t say anything. “Yeah, Scott’s a special one.” Her eyes get a little misty, a little distant, a little like she might cry. Liam’s not sure what to do. “Is it true you got bitten?” Ally asks suddenly, snapping herself out of wherever her mind went.

“Oh, yeah, check this out,” Liam rolls his sleeve up and shows her the big white bandage Nurse McCall had patched him up with. “It went super deep – I needed stitches! But I don’t even remember getting it.” He pulls his sleeve back down.

“That’s really weird,” Ally says sincerely, her eyes wide.

They lapse into a comfortable silence for a few minutes while Liam polishes off his lunch. He’s halfway through his juice box when he asks, “So, are you new here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before. But you said you know Scott?”

Ally shrugs. “I’ve been here since my Sophomore year,” she mumbles, looking down at the table. “But I guess no one really notices me anymore.” A look of absolute sadness flits briefly across her face, and her eyes flicker over to where Scott McCall is sitting with all his friends. Liam wonders what happened between them.

“I notice you,” Liam offers up lamely, reaching over and touching her hand gently. She seems like she needs a friend. He’s a bit startled by how cold her skin is, and she seems just as startled by the warmth of his. “Little hard not to when you’re sitting right in front of me.”

She gives him a wobbly smile. “Thanks Liam. That actually means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome, Ally.”

-

Liam’s late to lacrosse practice because he took a detour through the library, but Violet’s saved him a seat on the lowest tier of the bleachers so he doesn’t have to negotiate the stairs with a cast on his leg. “What took you so long?” she asks distractedly, keeping a watchful eye on Garrett as he does some warm up stretches a few feet away.

Something sour turns in Liam’s gut as he watches, wishing he was down there too. “I just had to grab a couple of things from the library.”

Violet nods once, and then starts furiously clicking away on her phone, so Liam pulls the thick book out of his bag and starts flipping through it. It’s the yearbook from the year before, and he turns pages until he finds the current Juniors’ Sophomore pictures. Slowly, he starts scanning over their names and pictures, trying to find his new friend. He doesn’t remember ever seeing her around, but she’d said she’d come for her Sophomore year. Of course, Liam is just assuming she’s a Junior because she seems to know Scott McCall and his friends.

“Probably should have asked…” he mutters, flipping a page back and forth. He spots the sheriff’s son and takes a moment to try and pronounce his first name. He gets as far as the ‘M’ and gives up.

Out on the field, Coach blows his whistle, and Liam jumps, slamming the book shut like he’s been caught with a Playboy magazine by his mom. “Jesus,” Violet snorts. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing,” Liam mumbles, going back to his book.

Violet nudges him. “Look! Garrett just tripped McCall’s friend!”

Barely glancing up, Liam stares at the page in front of him. He’s found Ally. ‘Argent, Allison’ according to the yearbook. Why does that name sound familiar. “Hey, Vi?” Liam pokes her in the ribs. “Violet, pay attention to me!” he whines, pawing at her sleeve. “Violet, Violet, Violet-”

“Oh my god, what?” Violet says, laughing at the pathetic look on Liam’s face. “Not being able to run around is driving you crazy, isn’t it?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe!” Liam sighs dramatically, leaning on her. “Here, I wanna ask you something. Have you heard the name Allison Argent before?”

Violet opens her mouth, but they’re both distracted by a commotion on the field as Scott McCall suddenly trips inelegantly over his own feet and causes a team-wide pileup while Coach jumps up and down like a madman, blowing his whistle and tugging at his hair.

“Wow, okay,” Violet says with a wince as Garrett struggles to shove the goalie’s elbow out of his gut. “Liam, seriously, do you ever watch the news? Allison Argent was one of those two kids killed in those muggings last semester. Her and Aiden Carver, remember? It was all over the papers and the TV and stuff.”

“No, no…” Liam slurs absently, tapping his chin with a finger. “It didn’t really reach us at Devonford because they were Beacon Hills’ students…” His vision sort of tilts sideways and his ears start ringing. “I… Wait, what? Did you say _died?_ ”

That doesn’t make any sense. Ally is… she was really there! He touched her hand and she picked his papers up. Ghosts don’t even _exist_! And if they did, and Liam could see them, surely he’d have seen one before now?

“-iam! Liam! LIAM!”

A sharp pain shoots across his cheek, and Liam shrieks. “Fuck! What was that for?” he barks at Violet, who still has her hand raised in case she has to slap him again.

“I’m sorry!” she says, lowering her hand. “You kinda zoned out on me, and I thought you were having a panic attack or something!” Because slapping someone is a wonderful method of dealing with that.

“I have to go,” Liam says suddenly, standing up and falling down after forgetting that he kind of, you know, has a broken leg and requires crutches to do basic things like stand upright and walk in a straight line. “Tell Garrett I’m sorry.” He thinks he’s going to be sick. He crutches down the stairs and into the off-field toilets under the bleachers where he proceeds to dump his lunch. “Fuck. I’m going fucking crazy.”

To this day, Liam still isn’t sure how he gets home from the lacrosse field. One minute he’s coming out from the bathrooms and spotting Ally sitting up in the top corner of the bleachers, sadly fond look on her face as she watches the team run suicides, the next, Liam’s blinking his eyes and he’s sitting on his bed, crutches laid out in front of him on the mattress, and his phone held in his hand, ‘SOS’ message typed out and thumb hovering over the send button. Liam blinks again, suddenly noting the name at the top of his message, and he deletes the whole thing.

He mentally chastises himself for going straight for Brett’s name in an emergency. Instead, he texts Mason. ‘I know you’re dying, but I think I’m going insane. Send help.’

Mason shows up ten minutes later, bundled up in three sweaters and a Batman blanket, chips, soda, and video games in tow. “Come on, man,” he says warmly. “Let’s get your mind off everything.”

-

Liam dreams that night.

_Little Liam holds his mom’s hand as they walk along with the rest of the funeral procession. “Mommy, what’s going on? Where is Mrs Anderson?” He can see Mrs Anderson’s husband and adult daughter near the big box the men are carrying, but Mrs Anderson isn’t with them._

_“Remember what I said, sweetheart?” Mrs Dunbar says quietly to her son. “Mrs Anderson died a few days ago, and we’re here to say goodbye to her because she looked after you sometimes when I’m at work and your father is… sick.” She brushes Liam’s hair off his face. “Just be a good boy, we can go home soon.”_

_“Okay, mommy,” Liam says, casting his eyes over all the people gathered around the hole in the ground. He tilts his head when he sees Mrs Anderson standing next to her husband suddenly. She looks up and sees Liam, and he gives her a little wave. She waves back, and then disappears in-between blinks._

Liam frowns in his sleep, rolling over and smushing his face between Mason’s shoulder blades.

_“Li, come on! The sooner we get this quadratic shit done, the sooner we can go out and practice!” Brett insists, dragging Liam into the dining room by his hand, not seeing Liam’s face go bright red as Brett’s foster mom shoots them a sly, knowing look. “We have_ two weeks _to prepare for the first game of the season!”_

_Liam sits in the seat Brett offers him, and he leans up against the taller boy comfortably as they pull all their school books out. They haven’t even taken their ties off because they want to get their homework out of the way as quickly as possible. “Okay, okay. You do the first five, I’ll do the last five, and then we’ll swap answers.”_

_“Good plan,” Brett commends, free arm wrapping around Liam as they both grab calculators and pens, doing their equations in relative silence._

_After a few minutes, there’s a fond sigh from the kitchen door, and Liam looks up, seeing two adults leaning in the doorway who he’s positive he’s never seen before, but they look eerily familiar. They’re watching the two boys with soft expressions, and Liam turns to look at Brett, poking his cheek with the end of his pen to get his attention. When he looks back to the door, however, they’re gone._

_“What?” Brett asks, tone slightly concerned as he glances at Liam. “You okay?”_

_“Yeah…” Liam trails off, noticing that the set of Brett’s eyes and the colour of his hair was the same as the woman he’d seen in the doorway, and the point of his nose and slope of his lips the same as the man. “I just need some help with this one…”_

Mason elbows Liam in the hip and Liam snorts, turning onto his back and throwing his arm out to the side in his sleep.

_The anger melts away when Liam can finally focus enough to see the horrified look on Brett’s face. Liam blinks, not sure why his boyfriend is looking at him like that until he registers the weight of the crowbar in his hand, and the sting of splintered glass in his arms and even in his cheek. Hesitantly, Liam turns to face the car. He blanches, crowbar clattering to the ground with a metallic bang, shattering the glass around his feet even further._

_“Brett…” Liam whispers, reaching out for him. Brett actually backs up a step, eyes wide with terror. Liam can’t handle seeing that look in his eyes. He turns and runs away from the car, away from the school. Away from Brett._

_Subconsciously, he wants to be away from people, and he finds himself on the familiar trail into the nature preserve, feet catching on twigs and stones as he trips up the hill. After what feels like hours of running, Liam collapses under a tree, panting and retching as he cries, sobbing loudly into the darkness. He’s fucked up so badly this time. Brett’s never seen him have a full blown episode before._

_The sound of crunching leaves reaches him, and Liam scoots behind the trunk, watching as two people walk down the path together, hands clasped. The boy is tall and black, face kind as he looks back at his companion, a girl with hair so gold it’s almost glowing in the darkness. Liam’s eyes are drawn to them as they walk past him, and he follows the girl’s hair until its swallowed by the deep dark of the trees. He looks back the way they’d come, and frowns. The only tracks in the wet ground are his own._

Mason’s alarm goes off at seven o’clock and Liam nearly falls out of bed he’s so shocked by the sudden sound. “Dude,” Mason croaks. “You’re really out of it, aren’t you? You were tossing and turning all night – are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Liam brushes him off as his emotionally-stunted ass is want to do. “Just had some fucked up dreams.”

“If you say so, man,” Mason mumbles around a yawn, clapping Liam on the shoulder. “Alright, up you get. I’m not going to school today; I feel like death warmed over.” He lies back down and pulls Liam’s blankets up over his head. “I’m staying here in the warm – someone tell my parents I’ll be home for dinner.”

-

“Hey!” Liam’s voice rings out in the empty corridor as he hops as fast as he can after the flash of purple fabric and dark brown hair. “Hey, wait up!” His armpits ache from how vigorously he’s attempting to move. “Ally!” his voice cracks slightly. “Allison!”

The girl freezes, materialising fully in front of Liam. Now that he – sort of, not really, he’s so confused – knows the truth about her, he can just see that she’s slightly blurred around the edges, and her colours seem to be a little desaturated compared to everything around her. “You know,” she breathes. “You found out.” She turns to face Liam as he limps up to her. “How did you find out?”

“Looked you up in a yearbook,” Liam explains, leaning heavily on his crutches as he tries to catch his breath. Not being able to train has depleted his stamina in a ridiculously short period of time. “I knew your name but couldn’t remember why. Violet… informed me of the rest.” He awkwardly looks down at his feet. “Are… are you really a ghost, or am I just going insane?”

A cool hand touches his cheek gently, and he flicks his eyes up to look at her face. “I’m a ghost, I’m pretty sure. But you’re the first person to ever see me,” Ally – Allison – says sadly. “I was hoping that maybe Scott and Malia would be able to see me with their other eyes, or Lydia would be able to sense me or something but…” she trails off at the confused expression on Liam’s face. “Never mind.” She bites her lip. “You’re so young,” she says out of nowhere, features turned down slightly in sadness. She turns away from him, seemingly talking to herself when she mutters, “I don’t know what he was thinking when he bit you.”

Liam opens his mouth to question that statement, but he’s cut off by the bell ringing for lunch. They stand still in the crowd, staring at each other appraisingly as people rush about, steering around Liam with sympathetic glances, and walking straight through Ally without so much as a shiver, shudder, or second glance. Soon, it’s just the two of them in the corridor again.

“Come have lunch with me,” Liam says, tilting his head towards the door that leads out into the back courtyard.

Ally smiles. “Okay.” And she falls into step beside him.

“So,” Liam begins, sliding down the wall carefully until he’s sitting with his injured leg propped out in front of him. “You’re a ghost. And I can see you.”

“Correct,” Ally grins, sitting down cross-legged beside him, half turned towards him.

It’s a strange sensation, looking at her. When Liam starts to think about her being a ghost, she becomes slightly transparent, and he can see the bus stops through her. But, when he doesn’t think about it, she’s as solid as a person who is alive would be. “You’re Allison Argent, and-”

“Keep calling me Ally,” she interrupts, apologetically. “I… It feels like I haven’t been Allison Argent since I, you know. _Died_.” She wraps her arms around her knees, eyes kind of drifting off like she’s staring away into some other plane of existence. Maybe she is. “When school started back the semester after it happened, I spent the entire first week chasing all of my friends, screaming at them, begging them to look at me, to _hear_ me.” She looks like she’s going to cry, and Liam reaches out and covers one of her cold, cold hands with his own. “I kept repeating, ‘It’s me, it’s Allison, it’s me!’ but it never worked…”

Liam gives her a wobbly smile. “Hey, Ally is cool with me.” She rubs the side of his hand with her thumb in thanks, and her own smile bloom slightly on her face to mirror Liam’s. “Wait, are you, like, stuck in the school?” he asks, almost sounding concerned. That would suck.

Ally shakes her head. “No, I can leave, but my dad packed up our apartment and left, and my old house feels like an empty shell, so there’s not really anywhere else for me to go. At least here, I get to see my friends almost every day.”

“Did you ever follow one of them home?” Liam asks, before realising that that’s kind of a creepy question.

“Just once,” Ally replies. “I went home with Scott. I wanted to make sure he was happy.”

Liam tilts his head. “You care about him a lot, don’t you?”

“Well-”

“Hey, Liam!” a vaguely familiar voice shouts, and Liam startles, looking up to see Scott (speak of the devil) and Stiles – the sheriff’s son – rounding the corner and heading towards him.

Considering Liam’s last interaction with the two Juniors landed him in the hospital, and maybe in this entire ghost situation, he briefly considers fleeing from the them, but that would require him both standing up and situating his crutches just right for a speedy getaway. By the time he’s finished contemplating that idea, they’re already standing over him. They’re both wearing slightly creepy grins, and Liam leans as far into the wall as physically possible, side-eyeing Ally, who looks like she’s trying not to laugh. Liam shoots her what he hopes is a look that conveys ‘help me, please’ before turning his eyes back to the two Juniors.

“Can I help you two?” he asks archly. “Or did you come to break my other leg?”

**Author's Note:**

> There we go, that's your preview. What did you think? Let me know if a full story of this would actually interest anyone.


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